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“You can’t buypool, too”

FORTY-FOUR

7 MINUTES

THE MINE SHAFT was collapsed

Lana stood facing a wall of debris And for a fleeting moment, she felt hope that this, at last, spelled the end of the monster that had enslaved her

But from that wall, the battered, blunted end of the fuel rod protruded

The billions of crystals that were all the body the gaiaphage had swarmed over the spilled uranium pellets

Lana felt the gaiaphage’s anticipation, its rush of bliss The fear of destruction drained from the creature And for a while, Lana’s e reveled in its dark joy

It was no blessing recovering her senses Lana kne beyond any doubt that it had been she who had pulled the trigger and shot Edilio She who had failed to blow up the cave She who had allowed this to happen

Too weak

A fool, easilyherself into the service of the monster Too weak to resist it

And as it grew stronger, as its fear ebbed, it would reach into her ain and use her power to build the body that would e the creature would not stop it It would create the body that could tunnel its way out, the cunningly designeddoll that could never be killed

She was the key now Lana knew that The tunnel had been shut with a treave it the key to escape

Only her own

death could stop it